head to head

Animal Crossing: New Horizons cover artvsZak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders cover art

Animal Crossing: New HorizonsvsZak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Animal Crossing: New Horizons leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).

EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10
Animal Crossing: New HorizonsZak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Axis by axis

Execution1 vs 0

Animal Crossing: New Horizons leans harder on execution: Trivial inputs.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 4

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders leans harder on variance: Globe-trotting item requirements are obscure on first play.

Optimization6 vs 6

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

full breakdown

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders